Do you wear armour?

PB Forum :: Downhill
Do you wear armour?
Author Message
flag querhoch
Posted: Sep 27, 2012 at 11:03 Quote
ok, i'll spell this out for you.

wear armour if you like, dont if you dont. but dont come to the trails with some macho attitude thats just going to get you hurt, possibly somebody else too. thats how trails get shut down or demolished. ive seen far too many idiots saying 'i dont need armour, im a big tough guy' then breaking thier arm. within a week the local council come snooping around and the health and safety gang start bulldozing. there was a BMX park opened in my town a few years ago, after about 15 years of campaigning and applications for funding. some kid broke a bone and it almost got shut down, the same reason the original one was closed and turned into a flower bed.

i dont want anybody to get hurt, but more importantly, I dont want some idiot thinking he's invincible and then ruining it for everybody else. theyre always the biggest crybabies in the end.
flag ktmmxrider
Posted: Sep 27, 2012 at 11:07 Quote
Agreed there. People who choose to not wear armour need to deal with the consequences of it.
flag bigburd
Posted: Sep 27, 2012 at 11:48 Quote
I have got into the habit of not wearing armour all the time in the past 5 years.
Now I pretty much only use it on what I call ' proper ' tracks , full on DH uplift days only really , I know i'll regret it at some point but i'm yet to find upper armour that offers the right mixture of fit ( i'm tall and skinny so armour rarely fits me with out modifying) , comfort and protection.

Hoping to start wearing a full jacket again soon as i'm looking at buying the nukeproof critical jacket , looks pretty light and comfortable.

And do people really think armour WON"T help you prevent broken bones ?

Surely not , you smash your elbow onto a rock at 30mph with no pads and let me know how it goes.

Or maybe an over the bars flat onto your back in a rock garden or onto a tree stump...

Shit , I think I might of just convinced my self to start wearing it full time again !
flag gab930
Posted: Sep 27, 2012 at 11:53 Quote
Wearing armour must have something to do with how popular the trend is.. I've never been to Whistler, but every video/picture I see of the place, riders are never body armour?? What's up with that
flag ktmmxrider
Posted: Sep 27, 2012 at 12:40 Quote
When I went to Whistler I wore armour. Elbows, Knees (with brace on Left), Leatt, gloves, TLD impact foam undershirt. Its overkill for here but was deffs worth it there.
flag anotherreece
Posted: Sep 27, 2012 at 12:43 Quote
querhoch wrote:
i never said that. I said the macho morons who think that armour is for pussies should f*ck off. try reading what I actually wrote

I've never seen one of these "macho morons" at local tracks or at races. Amour is a personal choice, some ride better without it, some can't ride without it. Same as Neck braces.

I ride without it because i feel I ride worse with it on, causing me to crash more. If you're constantly worried about falling off and hurting yourself, maybe try another sport?
flag EvenAug
Posted: Sep 27, 2012 at 13:56 Quote
I don't care if its swag or not. I'd rather not end up in a wheelchair.
flag thereisnospoon
Posted: Sep 27, 2012 at 14:23 Quote
anotherreece wrote:
I've never seen one of these "macho morons" at local tracks or at races. Amour is a personal choice, some ride better without it, some can't ride without it. Same as Neck braces.

I ride without it because i feel I ride worse with it on, causing me to crash more. If you're constantly worried about falling off and hurting yourself, maybe try another sport?

hmmmm, it's no wonder you never see those people at races, your last sentence suggests that you're one of them.

what's the old DH saying? if you're not falling, then you're not progressing? unfortunately, when you hit my age everything that you hurt as a kid starts bothering you. the more injuries you can prevent when you're young, the better LOL
flag ktmmxrider
Posted: Sep 27, 2012 at 14:39 Quote
If you're not falling, you're not learning. This is true for most things... to an extent. Some people just fall a lot and never get faster. There becomes a point where your falling is not from learning but simply due to lack of skill on a bicycle lol
flag anotherreece
Posted: Sep 27, 2012 at 16:44 Quote
thereisnospoon wrote:
anotherreece wrote:
I've never seen one of these "macho morons" at local tracks or at races. Amour is a personal choice, some ride better without it, some can't ride without it. Same as Neck braces.

I ride without it because i feel I ride worse with it on, causing me to crash more. If you're constantly worried about falling off and hurting yourself, maybe try another sport?

hmmmm, it's no wonder you never see those people at races, your last sentence suggests that you're one of them.

what's the old DH saying? if you're not falling, then you're not progressing? unfortunately, when you hit my age everything that you hurt as a kid starts bothering you. the more injuries you can prevent when you're young, the better LOL

lol, okay. The fact I've tried full body amour suggest I'm not one of these people. The reason I suggested another sport is because, no matter how much body amour you wear, you could still seriously injure yourself...and at your age...it's not ideal.

If you race and want to win, then you'll do anything to give yourself an advantage against everyone else, If you feel you ride better without amour, then you'll ride without amour. If you call that being a "macho moron", then you've clearly never been that driven to succeed.

To be honest, the whole "if you're not falling off you're not progressing" thing is a load of wank. Yes, you fall of from time to time, does it mean you get better? no. If anything it knocks your confidence and slows you down for a while. Being cocky and not feeling comfortable on the bike causes a lot more crashes in my opinion.
flag Quinn-39
O+
Posted: Sep 27, 2012 at 18:04 Quote
i find it rather heavy, but when fighting from horseback I dont really mind it...
flag mtbrider02
Posted: Sep 27, 2012 at 19:00 Quote
Actually falling has taught me alot, such as learning that i was cornering wrong... Also falling some has got me less scared of falling, like when i first started riding i was so clenched up on the bike because i was too scared, now that ive fallen ive loosened up gave myself more confidence, consequently i wreck less....

point is i try to make each wreck a learning experiance
flag ktmmxrider
Posted: Sep 27, 2012 at 19:19 Quote
No shit. But I'm saying is that you fall very often, maybe its the lack of skill rather than learning.
flag thereisnospoon
Posted: Sep 27, 2012 at 19:49 Quote
anotherreece wrote:
lol, okay. The fact I've tried full body amour suggest I'm not one of these people. The reason I suggested another sport is because, no matter how much body amour you wear, you could still seriously injure yourself...and at your age...it's not ideal.

If you race and want to win, then you'll do anything to give yourself an advantage against everyone else, If you feel you ride better without amour, then you'll ride without amour. If you call that being a "macho moron", then you've clearly never been that driven to succeed.

To be honest, the whole "if you're not falling off you're not progressing" thing is a load of wank. Yes, you fall of from time to time, does it mean you get better? no. If anything it knocks your confidence and slows you down for a while. Being cocky and not feeling comfortable on the bike causes a lot more crashes in my opinion.

I can tell you from experience that breaking something does alot more damage to your confidence than hitting the ground and getting a bit bruised or scraped up. been there, bought that t-shirt more than once. but everyone handles it differently.

I buy the competitive advantage argument, makes perfect sense, but insulting a total stranger's drive to succeed right after that, because I wear armour during races, is pretty sad.

I hate assumption, so here's a little factual info about myself so that you can see why that little insult irks me. I grew up on a farm in the Canadian prairies with next to nothing, where we didn't even have running water until I was 6. I've put myself through university, and earned 2 degrees, including a graduate degree from a university that you would instantly recognize as being top-tier. I'm 10 years into a career as a petroleum geologist, and have enough fun doing what I'm doing that I wouldn't even call it work most days.
lack of competitiveness isn't one of my flaws......and yes I have many LOL

in the end, you hit the nail on the head: do/wear what makes you feel comfortable. I couldn't agree more. everyone's comfort level is different, and that level always changes.
flag mtbrider02
Posted: Sep 27, 2012 at 19:56 Quote
ktmmxrider wrote:
No shit. But I'm saying is that you fall very often, maybe its the lack of skill rather than learning.

Wait was that reffered to me? i was reffering to @anothereece where he said you don't progress if you fall at all and you lose confidence all the time... sure huge falls that really hurt you can knock you down a notch but thats just learnig right. maybe cause you to make sure in more controll next time tup

 


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